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Michael Kenna

Forms of winter

February 4, 2019

Photographers are often advised to focus exclusively on one or two types of photography to enable them to brand themselves and become known for a particular style. Many successful photographers specialize in weddings or babies or pets or flowers or wildlife or abstracts or trains or… the list goes on.

I struggle with this advice. I had been thinking I would focus on street photography. As well as an occasional portrait. And I also love landscapes. And here are a few black-and-white nature images I have made recently, which are a whole different style again. So never mind the categories – I am going to follow my photographic muse wherever she leads!

Today’s images were inspired by Forms of Japan by Michael Kenna, a recent addition to my growing library of photobooks. In this collection, his meditative and mostly snowy images are accompanied by Haiku and quotes from a range of Japanese writers. The book arrived in the mail the day after I had signed up for a photo tour of Japan. This was in July.

Forms of Japan by Michael Kenna, and, below, two pages from his book.

Many of the images in his book are minimalist nature scenes. I admire Kenna’s work so I decided to try to emulate his style. Although most of my photos are made in an urban setting, I love nature and the challenge of finding an interesting composition using natural forms. And snow makes minimalist compositions much easier.

And, oh yes, Japan. I leave early on Sunday morning, Feb 10, and I will be in Japan for 10 days. I am excited and also a bit nervous to be going on this trip, but, mostly, I can hardly wait! My next blog post will be about what I expect to see and what I will be taking with me, so stay tuned.

I have no expectation that the Japan I see will look anything like Kenna’s photos, especially as we will see more cities than countryside. However, we will be in a mountainous area for a day or two, and I am told there will be snow, so I maybe I can find my own forms of Japan.

A gallery of images is below. Click on the thumbnails to see them in a larger size.

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: b+w, Japan, Michael Kenna, minimalism, nature

Copyright © 2019 · Gillian Barfoot

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